Event First Aid Cover & Medical Cover For Your Event

What does the HSE Say?…

Your duties as an event organiser

You must have plans in place to respond effectively to health and safety incidents and other emergencies that might occur at an event. For example, provision must be made for first aid cover and event medical cover. The emergency plan needs to be in proportion to the level of risk presented by event activities and the potential extent and severity of the incident.

What you need to do

Consider the key risks to the event and those people present.

Using the resources available to you onsite, develop emergency procedures to be followed by staff and volunteers in an emergency, eg a fire or structural failure.

Include contingencies to deal with incidents and situations as varied as an entertainment act cancelling at short notice, severe weather, or the unavailability of key staff in your team.

You will also need to consider your response to more serious emergencies, including major incidents that will require the help of the emergency services and implementation of their regional emergency plans (which may not be specific to the event).

For all but the smallest events with low risks (or those in fixed venues with established procedures), draw up and discuss your plans with the police, fire and rescue service, ambulance service, emergency planning and, for fixed premises like stadiums and arenas, the venue management. Find an appropriate first aid provider for the event site, they will support you in this medical planning process.

The detail and complexity of any discussions should be proportionate to the risks involved. Both organiser and emergency services should be clear about who will do what if there is an emergency or major incident.

First aid and medical assistance

As well as workers, HSE strongly recommends that you include the visiting public in your first aid, medical and ambulance needs assessment. You should balance onsite event medical cover and first aid cover provision against existing local NHS and ambulance service provision and capacity.

Except for small, low-risk events where ambulances may not be required, and at events where they are not onsite, plans should be drawn up in conjunction with the local NHS ambulance service to clarify how patients will be taken to hospital.

What do we think?

As you will be aware, organising an event is difficult – the last thing you want to be worrying about is the provision of first aid and event medical cover. There are so many suppliers out there, some of which are ‘weekend hobbiest’ and others are professional companies providing registered and qualified clinicians.

Jigsaw Medical Services Ltd is a specialist in event medical cover, we are not an ambulance service or patient transport service – we are a focused and professional event medical provider. We are able to provide a full service from free quotation and planning, right through to debriefing following your event. We are accessible, dedicated and full-time staff from a number of clinical, training and managerial backgrounds – call us today on 01829 732 615 for a chat about your event requirements. Whether it be a festival for 100k + or a village fate!